The Ways in Which the Relationship of Tom Buchanan and Myrtle Wilson Influences The Great Gatsby's Commentary on Social Classes in 1920's America
The relationship between Myrtle Wilson and Tom Buchanan helps portray the themes of social classes in F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby. The ways in which Tom and Myrtle's relationship influences the novel's commentary on social classes are basically two fold. Firstly, that it is impossible to permanently change ones social class simply by association with someone in a higher class. And secondly, that is impossible for love to exist between two people on opposite ends of the social scale. One of the biggest ways that the novel has of showing the reader of the impossibility to climb the social ladder simply by association with someone who is at the top of it is how Myrtle leads a double life. When she is with Tom she lives the high life. She goes to classy parties in New York City with rich people and purchases puppies and other things. But, when she is not with Tom she spends most of her days locked up in a small, desolate room above her husband's unsuccessful garage. Myrtle never really loved Tom, she just loved the life Tom led, and would be willing to do anything to have that life her self. S
he loved what Tom would buy her and the parties he would bring her to. Myrtle could have used anyone with Tom's social class to give her that feeling that Tom gave her. The feeling that she was better than she actually was. In this sense Tom symbolizes a portal, which gives Myrtle brief periods of what she thinks is the best and most enjoyable way to live. Even though the ways and means Gatsby had used to come to his high social standing probably were illegal he still came to his position and wealth by his own merit, and not from simply being around people of higher social classes. The other lesson the novel teaches the reader is the lesson that love will never work between people of vastly different social standings. This is why Tom and Myrtle's relationship never seems sincere. Whenever Tom does something nice for Myrtle it is always done with a grudge. Whenever Tom does anything mean to her he quickly tries to give her an insincere apology. After he buys the dog for Myrtle he says to the seller, "Here's your money. Go and buy ten more dogs with it." (The Great Gatsby, 32.) The way that Tom says this to
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Approximate Word count = 753
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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